Truck Information

This page is a work in progress.

First some basic information: hanger width is the main factor when choosing a freestyle truck. This, combined with deep-faced or offset wheel, sets the width for railstands. Whether you prefer a slightly wider width for railstand mobility or slighly narrower for railstand stability, this part of a freestyle setup is one of the most important.

There is usually 33mm of axle each side of the hanger. Bearings are typically 7mm thick and a 10mm spacer is normal in most wheels. This gives approximately 24mm of payload on the axle when no washers are used (see diagram). The wheel nut is usually 6.5mm deep and then whatever axle is left over will also need coverage from the wheel face depth.

The hanger width can be slightly increased by using spacers or washers. To get the maximum axle coverage out of your wheels, place as many washers as possible between the rear bearing and the hanger. Correct setup would mean the axle nut sits flush with the end of the axle, the wheel is not over-tightened, and there is no sideways play of the wheel on the axle. This gives you your maximum possible width with a particular truck/wheel combination. If you need to go the other way, the hanger can be ground down with various techniques – but bear in mind that the axle will need to be ground down accordingly and the axle threads can be re-cut with a 5/16 24tpi die. It’s easier to just buy the correct size in the first place, so consider this a last resort.

If you are just getting started in freestyle you may be thinking of a kind of hybrid street/freestyle board. If your motivation for doing this is to save on the cost of new trucks then we’d recommend against this move: freestyle trucks are significantly narrower than street trucks because of the need to cover the wheelnut. For example: an 8″ street deck is fine with Indy 149’s, but a 7.5″ freestyle deck requires Indy 109’s! That’s a 6% reduction in deck width but a 27% reduction in truck hanger width. Since trucks will outlast decks and wheels, the trucks should be chosen carefully.

We include certain deck width recommendations, but you can usually go slightly narrower or wider, depending on your preference. We don’t suggest you go more than 0.1″ either side of our recommendation, although with significantly deeper wheels than a standard freestyle wheel, it may be possible to go up to 0.25″ wider than our suggestion.

Anyway, onto the bulk of this page. What follows is the current result of an ongoing attempt to provide real-life measurements of the crucial aspects of every freestyle-sized truck currently available. Note that this is by no means a perfect list; for one, there will be manufacturing variation from one truck to the next, but even when using the exact same truck, height and weight can be altered by bushing combinations – which is probably why some of our measured heights differ from the ones claimed by the manufacturer. They’re all measured from the underside of baseplate to the centre of the axle to avoid measuring bulky hangars, but as this measurement can be changed with shorter or taller bottom bushings, we recommend you use those measurements purely as a guideline. It’s for this reason we also don’t mention “kingpin coverage”, as not only will many people will swap the kingpins for aftermarket ones, but changing the bottom bushing to something taller or shorter will change the amount the kingpin sits above the hangar.

All measurements are given in metric because of the extra accuracy in the system and the fact everywhere other than the USA uses it. Where measurements relate to the deck (i.e. axle length), we also provide an imperial conversation in inches.

The Truck Market

Independent 109:

Axle height: 53.95mm (Manufacturer claims 55mm)

Hangar length: 108.5mm

Axle length: 175mm / 6.89″

Recommended board width: 7.25″

Weight: 315g (from manufacturer’s spec)

Kingpin type: Button head

Mounting holes: New and old school

Additional notes/considerations: Shorter kingpin than standard. Needs thinner bushing combinations than most trucks. The stock bushings are universally understood to be terrible, even if you like loose trucks. Expect to replace them straight away.

Tracker Racetrack X 106:

Axle height: 54.5mm

Hangar length: 107mm

Axle length: 176mm / 6 14/16″ (6.875″)

Recommended board width: 7.25″

Weight: ?

Kingpin type: Hex head

Mounting holes: New and old school

Additional notes/considerations: Comes with hourglass-shaped slalom bushings, which will need replacing for freestyle. Also comes with extra-long kingpins – great for accommodating different bushing setups, but not so good for no handed pogos. Similar to the Indy 109s in turning performance. Opt for the S model for a more stable truck.

Tracker Racetrack S 106:

Axle height: 54mm

Hangar length: 107mm

Axle length: 176mm / 6 14/16″ (6.875″)

Recommended board width: 7.25″

Weight: 290g

Kingpin type: Hex head

Mounting holes: New and old school

Additional notes/considerations: Comes with hourglass-shaped slalom bushings, which will need replacing for freestyle. Also comes with extra-long kingpins – great for accommodating different bushing setups, but not so good for no handed pogos. They use a larger pivot cup than most trucks, and sourcing replacements can be awkward. Turns less than most trucks due to the odd geometry – perfect for one wheeled wheelies and stationary tricks. However, the unique geometry doesn’t respond to coconut wheelies well – if you want to roll around on the side of your board, we recommend the Racetrack X.

Bennett Vector

Axle height:

Hangar length:

Axle length: xxx mm / x x/x”

Recommended board width: 7.25″

Weight: xxxg

Kingpin type:

Mounting holes:

Additional notes/considerations:

Paris 108:

Axle height: 57.15mm

Hangar length: 107mm

Axle length: 175mm / 6 9/10″ (6.89″)

Recommended board width: 7.25″

Weight: xxxg (if anyone has a Paris they can weigh, please send us this info!)

Kingpin type: Button head

Mounting holes: New and old school

Additional notes/considerations: Baseplate is slightly thicker than a standard truck. Makes them less likely to break, but expect to need longer bolts than usual. Remember that if push comes to shove, you can flip the nuts on your mounting bolts to ensure the thread of the bolt is in the nylon. Although these are taller than the Indy 109s, you can fit a regular top bushing onto the Paris kingpin as a result, which should mean a more reliable turn (or a more solid truck if you don’t like any movement).

Mounting holes: 8-hole (fits new and old school patterns, and allows you to reduce the wheelbase by 1/4″ or 1/2″ on a deck with the new school pattern)

Additional notes/considerations: These are one of the lowest 10X trucks (by a considerable margin). Despite this, they still have about as much “kingpin coverage” as Independent 109s that come with the low kingpin, but can take regular barrel/cone bushing combos!

Globe Slant Trucks:

Axle height: 50mm

Hangar length: 107.6mm

Axle length: 175mm / 6 9/10″ (6.89″)

Recommended board width: 7.25″

Weight: 310g

Kingpin type: Button head

Mounting holes: New school

Additional notes/considerations: Looks like the baseplate is designed to also take traditional hex head kingpins.

Little-wheels truck bundle set

Axle height: 51mm

Hangar length: 127mm

Axle length:

Recommended board width:

Weight:

Kingpin type:

Mounting holes:

Additional notes/considerations: Hangers can be ground down on the drill press. To get down to indy 109 size we need to remove 9mm from each end. This would certainly require the axle to be shortened and re-threaded.

LITTLE-WHEELS TRUCK BUNDLE SET

Axle height: 51mm

Hangar length: 127mm

Axle length:

Recommended board width:

Weight:

Kingpin type:

Mounting holes:

Additional notes/considerations: Hangers can be ground down on the drill press. To get down to indy 109 size we need to remove 9mm from each end. This would certainly require the axle to be shortened and re-threaded.

ACE Trucks

TODO

ACE Trucks – these fall between two sizes: according to the manufacturer the 00 claims to have a 3 ⅞ inch hanger and the 11 has a 4 ½ inch hanger

ACE HIGH 11 4.5

Miscellany

Kingpins

Standard kingpin nut size is 3/8″ – 24tpi.

Baseplates are designed to hold kingpin bolts of a hex-head or splined-head type. Sometimes there is scope to modify the baseplate from splined to hex. Grindking kingpins are a popular upgrade (TODO photo required)

Kingpin lengths: 52mm for short? Weights: 65g/pair inc nuts

Old-school and new-school baseplate hole patterns

If you pick up an OG freestyle deck from pre 2000’s you may find that your trucks are not going to fit the pattern of bolt holes. Around 1999 the standard pattern shifted from the old 1 ½” x 1 ⅝” to the newer 1 ⅛” x 1 ⅝”. Luckily quite a few trucks are drilled for both patterns.

width for both: 1.625 in = 41.275 mm

length-old 1.5 in = 38.1 mm

length-new 1.125 = 28.575 mm

Trucks with both holes: Indy, Paris, Tracker

Trucks with new-school only: Ace, Polster

Bushings and Pivot cups

TODO

Debates about being able to steer!

Coned lower bushings versus the cylindrical barrel type. Also the fat stopper type with a bulge.